Colorful 'Ditch Ducks', Quirky Roadside Attraction in Minnesota

Every state has its fair share of quirky roadside attractions but I haven't heard of another state having colorful fake ducks floating in a random ditch before. They're called the 'Ditch Ducks', an appropriate name for this fun and colorful pit stop in northern Minnesota.

The 'Ditch Ducks' have been around for a little while. I drove by them myself in 2019. I didn't know they existed until we were driving along MN-65 and all of a sudden my husband and I had to do a double take. There were just a bunch of painted fake ducks floating in the ditch!

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Once I looked it up I found that plenty of people have discovered these ducks before. They've stopped to take pictures and some people even stop to drop in their own painted ducks. Since I've driven by in 2019 it appears many, many more ducks have been added as more people learn about this roadside attraction.

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The 'Ditch Ducks' began in 2017 as a joke between Joanne Ledin and her boyfriend Jeff Sutton. They spoke with KARE 11 about how it all started. The particular stretch where the 'Ditch Ducks' are located is a really boring drive and one that Joanne and Jeff would take to their cabin. Every time they took the drive Joanne would mistake a stick poking out of the water-filled ditch as a turtle. Jeff joked that he was going to put a yellow duck in the ditch to remind her that the stick isn't a turtle. Well, that's what he actually ended up doing and there was just this random yellow duck in a ditch.

Until about a month and a half later when a pink duck appeared. And pretty soon more and more painted ducks started to show up in the ditch. Now Joanne and Jeff have taken it upon themselves to get all of the ducks out for winter and put them all back in the spring. If any of them need to be fixed up they do it. And it's all just to make people feel good.

Keep scrolling for more fun, quirky roadside attractions in Minnesota!

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If you are looking for an excuse to get out of town for the weekend this summer, maybe give some of these uniquely Minnesota roadside attractions a view? Minnesota has plenty of options for those looking for something out of the ordinary, from green giants, and giant loons, to big ol' hockey sticks, there is something to see from border to border, from Iowa to Canada. Here are 10 options that might make a great weekend get-away or a simple day trip on the motorcycle.